RODMELL CONSERVATION AREA

CHARACTER APPRAISAL April 2007

In May 2007 Lewes District Council approved this document as planning guidance and therefore it will be a material consideration in the determination of relevant planning applications.

Acknowledgements

With thanks to John Harvey, of Rodmell Parish Council, who kindly showed me round the village.

This document has been written and illustrated by:

The Conservation Studio, 1 Querns Lane, Cirencester, Glos GL7 1RL.

Tel: 01285 642428

Email: [email protected] Website: www.theconservationstudio.co.uk Contents: Page

1 Summary 1 1.1 Key positive characteristics 1 1.2 Recommendations 1

2 Introduction 2 2.1 The Rodmell Conservation Area 2 2.2 The purpose of a conservation area character appraisal 2 2.3 The planning policy context 2 2.4 Community involvement 3

3 Location and landscape setting 4 3.1 Location and activities 4 3.2 Topography and geology 4 3.3 Relationship of the conservation area to its surroundings 5 3.4 Biodiversity 5

4 Historic development and archaeology 6 4.1 Historic development 6 4.2 Archaeology 7

5 Spatial analysis 10 5.1 Plan form, site layout and boundaries 10 5.2 Landmarks, focal points and views 11 5.3 Open spaces, trees and landscape 11 5.4 Public realm 12

6 The buildings of the conservation area 13 6.1 Building types 13 6.2 Listed buildings 13 6.3 Positive buildings 13 6.4 Building styles, materials and colours 14

7 Issues 17 7.1 Key positive characteristics 17 7.2 Key negative characteristics 17 7.3 Key issues 18

8 Recommendations 20 8.1 The quality of new development 20 8.2 Protecting the rural character of the conservation area 20 8.3 Site specific issues 20 8.4 Boundaries 20 8.5 Traffic management 20 8.6 Conservation Area boundary review 20 APPENDICES

Appendix 1 The historical development of the Ouse Valley 21 Appendix 2 Local Plan policies 23 Appendix 3 Bibliography 24 Appendix 4 Townscape Appraisal Map 26

HISTORIC MAPS

1839 Rodmell 8 1873 Ordnance Survey 8 1908 Ordnance Survey 9 1929 Ordnance Survey 9

1 SUMMARY 1.1 KEY POSITIVE CHARACTERISTICS 1.2 RECOMMENDATIONS

This Character Appraisal concludes that the key This Character Appraisal makes the following positive characteristics of the Rodmell recommendations (summary): Conservation Area are: • Protect the conservation area from • Small linear village based on a winding inappropriate new development; country lane, with a variety of historic • Ensure the use of traditional materials and buildings, most notably St Peter’s Church; details for any new buildings; • Attractive location on the lower slopes • Control new garages very carefully; of the South Downs, with the River Ouse • Protect the rural character of the valley to the east; conservation area; • Just five kilometres away from Lewes, the • Seek improvements to the Abergavenny county town of East Sussex; Arms; • Informal layout of the houses, cottages, • Protect existing boundaries and resist the barns and other outbuildings mainly associ- further loss of front gardens for car parking; ated with agriculture; • Consider ways of improving the junction of • Spacious plots often defined by flint walls, the village street with the C7; which are an important characteristic • Amend the conservation area boundary feature of the village; slightly: • Grass verges are also significant; o Add the whole of the garden to • Use of thatch, red clay roof tiles, red brick, Bankside; flint and painted weather-boarding; o Add a small piece of land off Mill Lane; • Stunning views of the South Downs and o Add the whole garden of Parkfield and beyond; Barns Croft. • 1960s and later housing development has been integrated into the historic layout with mixed success.

View along the village street Protect the rural character of the conservation area

LEWES - RODMELL CONSERVATION AREA 1 2 INTRODUCTION 2.1 THE RODMELL CONSERVATION AREA relevant to the Rodmell Conservation Area, is set out in “Planning Policy Guidance Note 16: Rodmell is a small downland village located Archaeology” (PPG16). some five kilometres to the south of Lewes. The conservation area, which was designated in 1972, This document therefore seeks to: covers almost the entire settlement, including a section of the C7, the secondary route between • Define the special interest of the Rodmell Lewes and Newhaven, and a meandering country Conservation Area by analysing its historical lane, ending in a loop at the eastern edge of the development, landscape setting, spaces, village. The boundary includes a variety of timber- buildings and activities; framed, brick and flint cottages and houses, many • Identify negative features and provide a list of them listed, and the mid-12th century church of improvements and actions, most of which of St Peter’s. Of interest to followers of the will be the responsibility of Lewes District Bloomsbury Set is Monks House, now owned by Council; the National Trust and for many years the home • Carry out a review of the existing of Virginia and Leonard Woolf. The location at the conservation area boundary and make foot of the steep scarp slope (part of the South recommendations for change as appropriate. Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) which leads up to summit of the Downs provides English Heritage recommends that once a stunning views in many directions. character appraisal is completed, a further docu- ment, the Management Proposals, is drawn up, 2.2 THE PURPOSE OF A CONSERVATION ideally with the help and co-operation of the local AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL community. This would provide more detailed guidelines to prevent harm and achieve enhance- Conservation areas are designated under the ment, based on the various issues identified in the provisions of Section 69 of the Planning (Listed character appraisal. It is hoped that the District Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990. A will be able to fund this more detailed work at conservation area is defined as “an area of special some stage in the future. architectural or historic interest the character or appearance of which it is desirable to preserve or Survey work for this document was carried out in enhance”. October 2006 by The Conservation Studio, when a full photographic record was also taken of the Section 71 of the same Act requires local planning area and its buildings. Unlisted buildings which authorities to formulate and publish proposals make a positive contribution, trees, water courses, for the preservation and enhancement of these views and areas and buildings for enhancement conservation areas. Section 72 also specifies that, were noted amongst other matters and recorded in making a decision on an application for on a Townscape Appraisal Map. The omission of development within a conservation area, special any particular feature does not imply that it is of attention must be paid to the desirability of no significance. preserving or enhancing the character or appearance of that area. Additionally the existing boundary of the conser- vation area was carefully surveyed and additions In response to these statutory requirements, and deletions considered. These are detailed in this document defines and records the special Chapter 8 Recommendations. architectural and historic interest of the Rodmell Conservation Area and identifies opportunities 2.3 THE PLANNING POLICY CONTEXT for enhancement. It is in conformity with English Heritage guidance as set out in “Guidance on This document therefore provides a firm basis on conservation area appraisals” (August 2005). which applications for future development within Additional government guidance regarding the the Rodmell Conservation Area can be assessed. management of historic buildings and conservation It should be read in conjunction with the wider areas is set out within “Planning Policy Guidance development plan policy framework as set out 15: Planning and the Historic Environment” (PPG15). in the East Sussex Structure Plan 1991-2011, the Government advice on archaeology, which is Brighton and Hove Structure Plan 1991-2011, and

2 LEWES - RODMELL CONSERVATION AREA in Lewes District Council’s Local Plan, adopted in the extent of the conservation area boundary March 2003. was discussed, along with some of the main problems and issues which face the community. In the Local Plan, there are no site specific policies, Following this meeting, a first draft was agreed but Inset Map No. 18 confirms that the following with the District Council and the document was general policies apply to the whole settlement of then put on the District Council’s website from Rodmell, including the conservation area: mid-December 2006 for six weeks. After the completion of this period of public consultation, • A Planning Boundary defines the extent of the final draft was produced and the document allowable development around Rodmell. illustrated and printed. This encompasses the built-up part of the conservation area, and is tightly drawn around the backs of many of the existing properties, preventing development in back gardens. It specifically excludes the follow- ing sites from future development: o Back gardens behind the properties fronting the village street on the north-west side of the village; o The fields and open land on the south- east side of the village, immediately to the north-east of the 1930s cottages facing the C7; o A field to the north of St Peter’s Church; St Peter’s Church o Properties to the south-east of Mill Lane. • Countryside Policies (which limit develop- ment) apply to the land beyond the Planning Boundary; • The South Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) covers Rodmell and the surrounding countryside.

Other policies in the Local Plan, which relate to listed buildings, conservation areas, archaeology and new development are included at Appendix 2.

The 2003 Local Plan will shortly be replaced by a new Local Development Framework. This new plan- Mill Lane ning system was established by the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, which abolishes Structure and Local Plans and replaces them with Local Development Documents. More information about this important change to the planning system can be found on the District Council ’s website: www.lewes.gov.uk.

2.4 COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

This document was initially drafted following a meeting with representatives from Rodmell Parish Council and local historians on 14th September 2006. A walkabout with one of these representa- View into the conservation area from the surrounding tives was held on the 14th October 2006, when countryside

LEWES - RODMELL CONSERVATION AREA 3 3 LOCATION AND LANDSCAPE SETTING 3.1 LOCATION AND ACTIVITIES Field, behind the Old Rectory, is well used, as is the village Primary School, which still operates from the Rodmell is located within the South Downs original Victorian brick and flint building next to the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), six church. kilometres to the south of Lewes, the county town of East Sussex, on the C7 Lewes-Newhaven Road. 3.2 TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY The conservation area is centred to the north of the C7 on a meandering country lane which ends Rodmell lies in the lower part of the scarp slope in a loop. A small further section of designated area which forms a north-eastern edge to the South lies along the beginning of Mill Lane, which leads in Downs. The village street is situated on a slight a south-westerly direction up the South Downs. ridge with the land falling off gently to the north, east and south-east, towards the valley of the River Rodmell is primarily a residential village and the Ouse. Most of the conservation area is located only working farm was closed in the 1990s and the above the ten metre contour, putting it safely site and buildings developed for housing. There are above the floodplain of the river. This provides two commercial properties, the Abergavenny Arms, good views in every direction, but most notably a popular pub on the C7, and, on the opposite side towards the Downs which form a dominant feature of the C7, the village forge. The former village shop overlooking the village. was located in Bibles Cottages, next to Bybles. Monks House and some adjoining land is owned by The village is located on loamy clay and marl soils the National Trust and is tenanted, although open which provide suitable conditions for a variety of to the public for two afternoons a week in the arable crops. Nearby, the South Downs are mainly season. This brings an influx of cars and visitors composed of chalk and flint so it is not surprising into the village and during the summer months that flint is the dominant material in the village. To some of the local residents provide cream teas and the north-east lie the brooklands of the river Ouse, other refreshments. The Village Hall in Martens with their alluvial soils and lush water meadows.

The former village forge

4 LEWES - RODMELL CONSERVATION AREA 3.3 RELATIONSHIP OF THE CONSERVATION AREA TO ITS SURROUNDINGS

Rodmell is one of a group of ancient settlements which developed along the spring line which forms the edge of the valley of the river Ouse between Lewes and the sea. The South Downs overlook the village and a footpath connects directly up Mill Lane to Mill Hill, which overlooks the village. Slightly further away is the Breaky Bottom vineyard, and a few kilometres beyond, but in no way visible from Rodmell, the coastal towns of Peacehaven and Saltdean. Another footpath connects the northern Flint is the dominant building material in the village edge of the conservation area to the river, with views over the valley to Mount Caburn and the white chalk cliffs of Lewes.

3.4 BIODIVERSITY

The whole of Rodmell lies within the South Downs AONB, a landscape of national significance with policies in both Structure and Local Plans for its protection. The rearing of livestock is the main farming activity. Some of this downland is notable for the wide variety of chalk downland plants which flower there in the spring and summer, including rare orchids. Arable crops are grown in rotation on the flatter fields. The centre of the village

Glimpses of the surrounding countryside can be obtained from the main street (Mill Lane)

LEWES - RODMELL CONSERVATION AREA 5 4 HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT AND ARCHAEOLOGY 4.1 HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT

Early Saxon settlements appear to have been established in the area following the retreat of the Romans in the 4th century AD. At this time the Ouse valley would have been a tidal estuary with areas of easily worked fertile soil on its edges, and the Saxons seem to have created a number of farms at intervals along the river now partly represented by the established villages of Kingston, Swanborough, Iford (comprising Norton and Sutton), Northease, Rodmell, Southease, and Piddinghoe. Place House and former stables

St Peter’s Church may be on the site of an earlier Saxon church as a church is noted on the Domesday Survey, when Rodmell is referred to as Redmelle or Ramelle. At this time the village had a population of 130. Between 1091 and 1095 William de Warenne granted the church to St Pancras Priory in Lewes, but the present building dates to the early to mid 12th century (nave and chancel) with a late 12th century tower, baptistry and side aisle. Of note is the 12th century font which still remains. The building of the church was probably paid for by the monks, who in 1253 gave the church and its incomes to the Bishop of Rodmell School Chichester. The monks appear to have developed Northease Manor as their principal farm in the area, located just half a kilometre along the road towards Lewes.

The manor of Rodmell was held by King Harold before the Norman Conquest and handed over to William de Warenne by a grateful William the Conqueror in return for his support during the Norman invasion. By 1439 the manor had descended (along with Iford) to Elizabeth, wife of Sir Edward Nevill, Lord Bergavenny. In the early th 17 century some of the land and properties Former agricultural labourers’ cottages on the C7 were let out to Sir George Goring, later Earl of Norwich, who also acquired Northease Manor and part of Iford. However Rodmell manor remained in the ownership of the Abergavennys until 1919 when the whole estate was sold.

Notable residents include a staunch Catholic land- owner, John Leedes, who lived at Hall Place and sold it to John de la Chambre in about 1586. The de la Chambre family continued to be connected with Rodmell until at least the 17th century. Hall Place was finally demolished in 1838 and all that is left now is the 18th century ice house, recently listed. The name Charnes Cottages refers to the New housing in Martens Field

6 LEWES - RODMELL CONSERVATION AREA de la Chambres and the building is located on Virginia’s sister Vanessa Bell and her family. At the the front of the former manor house site. After beginning of World War II Leonard and Virginia the demolition of Hall Place, Place House, an 18th started living at Monks House on a permanent century building on the other side of the street, basis but after a long struggle with depression became the principal house in the village and Virginia drowned herself in the River Ouse in was occupied throughout the 19th century by the 1941. The house and some of the surrounding Saxby family whose crest, with a date plaque of land is now owned by The National Trust and 1825, adorns the adjacent stables. The adjoining open two afternoons a week in the season. coat of arms, for the De la Chambre family, was removed from Hall Place prior to demolition. The map of 1908 shows little change from 1839, Another significant house, The Old Rectory, was apart from the loss of Hall Place and the village remodelled by the Reverend Pierre de Putron, pond, which was located at the junction of the who rebuilt the original Queen Anne farmhouse village lane and the C7. However, between 1908 in the 1860s when he was also restoring the and 1929 cottages were built along the C7, church. His diary, extracts of which are recorded presumably to house agricultural workers on the in Victorian Rodmell, confirm that on the 15th nearby farms – South Farm was still operating in January 1856 he applied to Queen Anne’s Bounty the village until the 1990s. (presumably a bank) for a loan to enable him to repair, rebuild and improve the Rectory House From the 1960s onwards, there was a certain and its outbuildings. amount of infilling around the village, fortunately mostly unobtrusive. The conversion of South By the 19th century Rodmell had become well Farmhouse and its barns into separate units, and known for its Southdown sheep and cattle, reared the creation of five new detached houses in the on the downland and the lush water meadows of former farmyard, took place in the 1990s, when the Ouse. A mill had been built higher up along the farm ceased operations. In the last few years, Mill Lane and the mill keeper’s house still remains some much-needed affordable housing has been just within the conservation area. In 1810 a parish provided in Martens Field. The village forge and poorhouse was built close to the church, now farriers still operates although the petrol pumps divided into three cottages (Freshfields, Croft which once formed a picturesque touch in front View Cottage and The Old Poor House). In of the building no longer function. Today the 1856 the Earl of Abergavenny gave land and £50 village retains a strong sense of community, helped towards the cost of building a church school. The by the survival of the village school and the well school, which is located next to St Peter’s Church, supported church and village hall activities. The opened later that year and cost a total of £150, National Trust public car park at the eastern end most of the remaining money being donated by of the conservation area serves a useful purpose Jonas Saxby of Place House. and usually prevents visitors’ cars from clogging up the main street. In the 20th century, Rodmell gradually became less dependent upon agriculture and the village 4.2 ARCHAEOLOGY became a favoured retreat from the hustle and bustle of London. Leonard and Virginia Woolf Neolithic man inhabited the South Downs and bought Monk’s House in 1919 as a weekend there are remains of tumuli on the tops of the cottage, moving from Asham House on the other Downs overlooking the village. There are no side of the valley which they had shared with Scheduled Monuments within the conservation area.

LEWES - RODMELL CONSERVATION AREA 7 1839

1873 Ordnance Survey

8 LEWES - RODMELL CONSERVATION AREA 1908 Ordnance Survey

1929 Ordnance Survey

LEWES - RODMELL CONSERVATION AREA 9 5 SPATIAL ANALYSIS

5.1 PLAN FORM, SITE LAYOUT AND BOUNDARIES

The Rodmell Conservation Area is notable for its linear form, with informal groups of houses, cottages and former agricultural buildings, mostly listed. The main street ends on a loop, created sometime between 1839 and 1873. In places, modern residential development has taken place, although these buildings usually sit well back from the lane behind flint walls or planting and this helps to reduce their impact. The lane twists Old Farm House and undulates, providing glimpses which are framed by the flint walls and planting. Some of the historic buildings, such as Drummond House and Old Farm House, sit on the back of the street boundary (there are no pavements), constraining views, whilst others, such as Place House, sit well back from the road.

The gardens are varied in size and form, although there is a strong line created by the back bounda- ries on either side of the main street. These run at right angles to the C7, and are marked as footpaths on the 1873 map, suggesting a very early property layout. On the north-west side of the The Old Rectory has a very large garden, visible from the public footpath street, this boundary has been extended (possibly in the 1960s) so that the houses have much larger gardens than shown on the historic maps, although the line of the footpath can still be traced across the middle of some of these plots. Some of the gardens are therefore very large, but are not fully appreciated from the public viewpoint in the lane. Monks House has a particularly large garden, with a large vegetable garden which is partly divided into allotments, and well loved by both visitors and residents. The Old Rectory is another house with a large garden which stretches southwards to the footpath which forms the southern boundary of the conservation area. Fortunately, most of The road through the village bends gently the 20th century properties have reasonably sized plots, the exception being the gardens to the South Farm development which appear rather pinched in relation to the size and bulk of the new houses.

Boundaries throughout the conservation area are made up from flint walls, with some hedging and trees either as separate elements or in conjunc- tion with the walling. There are also a variety of modern timber fences, none of them of any special merit or obtrusiveness. The use of traditional post-and rail timber fencing is appropriate in St Peter’s Church

10 LEWES - RODMELL CONSERVATION AREA places. Modern metal railings and gates outside street and it is worth walking the street in both Monreepos are not in keeping with the rural directions to fully appreciate the way in which the character of the conservation area. The village lane twists and turns and the various buildings street is also notable for the changes of level frame the vistas. Because the village is surrounded between the road and the adjoining properties, by public footpaths there are also attractive views with several houses being hidden behind raised into the more built-up area, often focusing on the verges or banks, topped by a flint wall and hedging. varied flint and brick cottages. The most notable views are marked on the Townscape Appraisal 5.2 LANDMARKS, FOCAL POINTS AND Map. VIEWS 5.3 OPEN SPACES, TREES AND LANDSCAPE The conservation area provides a number of well detailed, attractive historic buildings which There are no public open spaces within the together form a cohesive whole. There are conservation area, the only community space no particularly prestigious landmark buildings, being the playing field with its pavilion located to although St Peter’s Church is important in views the north-east of St Peter’s Church, outside the from the south of the conservation area looking boundary of the conservation area. A playground in. However, some of the buildings within the is attached to the village school, next to the conservation area do close vistas and act as low church. key landmarks. These are marked on the Townscape Appraisal Map. Unsurprisingly for a rural conservation area, trees are very important within the village, the most Because of the closely built up village centre, there important being located in and around Deep are limited opportunities for views out of the Thatch Cottage, Monks House and Briar Cottage. village, but sometimes glimpses of the surrounding Some of these were elms which were sadly lost fields, South Downs and Mount Caburn can to Dutch Elm Disease or the ravages of the 1987 be seen between the buildings. However, the hurricane. Many of these trees are specifically principal views in Rodmell are along the village protected by Tree Preservation Orders.

View out of Rodmell (on a very misty day)

LEWES - RODMELL CONSERVATION AREA 11 All around Rodmell is stunning landscape which forms part of the South Downs AONB. Footpaths connect Rodmell to the South Downs, Northease and across the valley to the river Ouse. All of these provide ample opportunity of enjoying the views across the valley towards Lewes, Cliffe and Mount Caburn, particularly from the top of Mill Hill above Rodmell.

5.4 PUBLIC REALM

There are hardly any pavements in Rodmell, as befits a rural conservation area, apart from the ones along sections of the C7 which are covered in black tarmacadam with small (100 x 300 mm) granite setts forming the kerb, and in the village outside The Old Rectory, where a narrow pave- ment is defined by long (700 mm) stone kerbs. Grass verges of varying widths occur in many locations, adding to the countryside character. There are some timber telegraph poles along the main road, but generally the overhead cables are not particularly obtrusive and in the village proper they appear to have been put underground. A traditional white finger post with black lettering marks the junction with the village street and the Traditional finger post on the C7 C7. Close by there is a bus stop with a pitched roof shelter, adjoining a modern telephone kiosk. A village post box is located in the flint wall in front of The Old Rectory, along with a village display board and a traditional wooden bench.

The church spire provides an important focal point

12 LEWES - RODMELL CONSERVATION AREA 6 THE BUILDINGS OF THE CONSERVATION AREA 6.1 BUILDING TYPES

The village is mainly residential so historic buildings types are mainly confined to larger detached houses (e.g. Place House, Monk’s House) and more modest houses and cottages (e.g. Step Cottage, Stile Cottages, Briar Cottage). Additionally, there are several former agricultural buildings which have been converted into houses, such as Barn House, Flint Barn (part of South Farm), and South Downs House. Apart from these residential properties, St Peter’s Church is the only religious building; the nearby village school the Flint Barn, formerly part of South Farm only educational building; The Abergavenny Arms the only Public House; and The Forge the only other commercial building. None of the buildings appear to be in active agricultural use any more, but there are several farmhouses or other build- ings with obvious links to the former agricultural use: Drummond House, originally called Hill Farm House; Mill House in Mill Lane; and the former South Farmhouse, now divided into two units.

6.2 LISTED BUILDINGS

There are 35 listed buildings or entries in the conservation area, all of them listed grade II apart Mill House, Mill Lane from St Peter’s Church which is listed grade I. This retains much 12th century fabric and is notable for its flint elevations and short, stumpy spire covered in shingles. It was heavily restored in the 19th century. The other listed buildings vary in use from former farm houses to a wide variety of smaller houses and cottages, mostly built from flint with red brick dressings, but some timber-framed and weather-boarded. Slightly unusual is Rodmell House, a tall and rather austere red brick building, dated 1859, which was built as a granary and was subsequently converted into flats; The Forge next door, with its many workshop windows and painted weatherboarding; Barn Rodmell House House, a substantial former barn much altered and extended in the 1930s; and The Old Rectory, a late medieval building which was refronted in c.1860. This is the only example in the conservation area of an imposing, symmetrical composition. Its front boundary wall, built from matching knapped flint, is also listed.

6.3 POSITIVE BUILDINGS

There are 21 unlisted historic buildings in the Rodmell Conservation Area which make a positive contribution to the character and appearance of Barn House

LEWES - RODMELL CONSERVATION AREA 13 the conservation area. These buildings have been identified during the survey process and, as recom- mended in PPG15, are recorded on the Townscape Appraisal Map. There is a general presumption that positive buildings within the conservation area will be protected from demolition and the District Council will be especially vigilant when considering applications for alteration or extension.

Positive buildings vary, but generally they are 19th century cottages and agricultural buildings which retain their original form, details and materials. Of Nos.1, 2, 3 Stocks Cottages note is Old Farm House with its red clay tile-hung elevations above an old red brick wall with stone plinth, possibly a rebuild of c.1910; nos. 1, 2 and 3 Stocks Cottages, 19th century and built from flints with red brick dressings; Johns, an unusual (for Rodmell) two storey cottage built from cream and red brick, dating to about 1880; and the former South Farmhouse.

6.4 BUILDING STYLES, MATERIALS AND COLOURS

The historic buildings in Rodmell have a variety of styles, according to date, but they are basically Johns very simple, vernacular buildings as befits their rural location. There are therefore only two examples of more “polite” buildings, where the frontages have been deliberately designed to impress. The first example is Place House, an 18th century building with a five bay almost symmetrical frontage and steeply pitched tiled roof. The stables are dated 1825 and the plaque also records the initials “C S”, referring to a member of the Saxby family who lived there at the time. The adjoining coat of arms, for the De la Chambre family, was removed from Hall Place prior to demolition. The only other example is The Old Rectory, renovated by the Reverend Pierre de Putron, who remodelled The Old Rectory the original much earlier building in the 1860s when he was also restoring the church. He added a knapped flint front elevation and stone mullioned windows, in the Tudor Gothic style which was then fashionable.

Other than this, the buildings of the conservation area were generally built to house farm workers and the occasional farm owner or tenant in a slightly more prestigious building. They include 16th or 17th century timber-framed cottages with thatched roofs, such as Thatched Cottage, a 16th century timber-framed house with plaster infilling; Midease (the only example of exposed Midease timber-framing in the conservation area); and Deep

14 LEWES - RODMELL CONSERVATION AREA Thatch Cottage, with painted weather-boarding. There are also several examples of early buildings of a similar age (judging by their roof shape and general form) which were encased in flint and brick in the 19th century (Drummond House, Briar Cottage, Step Cottage, Old Barn Cottage). Drummond House retains a jettied front bay overlooking the village street, now clad in red clay tiles but clearly part of the original timber-framed building. Steeply pitched roofs, sometimes with half hips, substantial central brick stacks, and low eaves characterise these buildings. For the earliest buildings, such as Step Cottage, small gablets in the hips suggest a pre-1550 date (when chimneys Step Cottage replaced open hearths) and the possible existence of a double height hall.

Other buildings are more varied - Monks House was also built in the 18th century from timber with white painted weather-boarded elevations and sash windows; there is slate hanging on Pear Tree Cottage, an 18th century building with casement windows and a painted, rendered front elevation; and Charnes Cottage has been refronted with red and grey bricks creating a chequer-board pattern.

The Forge is the only “industrial” building in the conservation area and retains its original windows Drummond House

Monks House

LEWES - RODMELL CONSERVATION AREA 15 made from small sheets of very thin glass, and it forms a group with the adjoining Mill Owners House (notable for its double external staircase) and Rodmell House, a converted former granary built from red brick with simple four pane sash windows.

Roofs are either thatch, handmade clay tile (providing a pleasingly uneven surface), or slate. Large red brick stacks are common. Walls are mainly field flints, roughly bound together with lime mortar, with red bricks being used to create the window and door openings. Red clay tiles are also used to clad buildings, possibly also to hide an earlier timber frame (as at Drummond House and the former Mill House). Windows tend to be Rose Cottage has a variety of windows and a modern but timber sashes on the higher status houses, and side traditional ledged and braced front door opening timber casements on the cottages. They are usually painted white and have slim glazing bars. Rose Cottage has a pleasing variety of small windows including examples of horizontally-sliding windows, sometimes called Yorkshire sashes. The village school, dating to 1856, has diamond-shaped leaded lights, as has The Old Rectory. Some of the front doors are panelled but generally they are traditional ledged and braced boarded timber doors.

Window to The Forge

16 LEWES - RODMELL CONSERVATION AREA 7 ISSUES 7.1 KEY POSITIVE CHARACTERISTICS

This character appraisal concludes that the key positive characteristics of the Rodmell Conservation Area are:

• Small linear village based on a winding country lane, with a variety of historic buildings, most notably St Peter’s Church; • Attractive location on the lower slopes of the South Downs, with the River Ouse valley to the east; • Just five kilometres away from Lewes, the Briar Cottage county town of East Sussex; • Informal layout of the houses, cottages, barns and other outbuildings mainly associated with agriculture; • Spacious plots often defined by flint walls, which are an important characteristic feature of the village; • Grass verges are also significant; • Use of thatch, red clay roof tiles, red brick, flint and painted weather-boarding; • Stunning views of the South Downs and beyond; • 1960s and later housing development has been integrated into the historic layout with View along the main street to the C7 mixed success.

7.2 KEY NEGATIVE CHARACTERISTICS

This character appraisal concludes that the key negative characteristics of the Rodmell Conservation Area are:

Mill Lane and C7:

• Busy traffic along the C7 (despite 30 mph limit); • Overhead wiring. Traffic is very busy along the C7

Village street:

• Use of modern materials and details generally; • Unsympathetic alterations to unlisted buildings e.g. Nos. 1 and 2 Sunnyside – modern windows; • Concrete roof tiles on outbuilding to Old Farm House; • Timber fence on boundary to Deep Thatch Cottage; • Car parking can be obtrusive and occasionally traffic can be dangerous, Concrete roof tiles on out-building to Old Farm House

LEWES - RODMELL CONSERVATION AREA 17 particularly in the summer months when Monks House is open; • Modern metal railings and gates outside Monreepos; • Dominant side extension to Appletree Cottage, a listed building; • UPVC windows in no. 1 Vine Cottages; • Some loss of front boundaries and gardens to car parking e.g. outside Tamblin House and Holly House; • Abergavenny Arms – extract vents, bins, recycling bins, signage, poor condition of building. Improvements are needed to the Abergavenny Arms

7.3 ISSUES

The Rodmell Conservation Area encompasses an attractive rural settlement with few obvious threats to its character although incremental change could adversely affect the quality of the environment if not controlled properly. The buildings are generally in good condition and generally the area is clearly a desirable location in which to live. However, there are a number of issues (which the District Council is mainly responsible for) which will need to be resolved if the conservation area is to be protected from Existing gardens in the conservation area should be protected from inappropriate development unsympathetic change. These are:

1 The quality of new development

The conservation area has already been subject to a large amount of infill development, mainly in the 1960s and 1970s, but some more recent. Further development would erode the character of the area by reducing open space, changing the historic form of development, and generating more traffic. The development of South Farm in the 1990s was generally achieved without detrimental effect, although the overall scale and massing of the new houses, and their relatively small plots, does Protect the rural setting of the conservation area contrast with the historic form of development in the village, which is on a smaller scale, with larger, more spacious gardens.

2 Protecting the rural character of the conservation area

The conservation area once supported several farms and the survival of a variety of agricultural buildings, all of them now in residential uses, helps to maintain that rural quality. The close proximity of the surrounding fields, the many footpaths which connect across them, and the dominant Car parking on the main street can be dangerous for presence of the South Downs, also provide a pedestrians and other road users

18 LEWES - RODMELL CONSERVATION AREA suitably rural setting. Any further development 5 Traffic management and car parking of the open fields around or within the Rodmell Conservation Area should be resisted, as is indeed Traffic can be heavy along the C7 and despite a specified by the Planning Boundary in the Lewes 30 mph limit and an elevated mirror the junction District Local Plan. with the village street and the C7 is extremely dangerous. This is especially noticeable in the 3 Site specific issues summer months when Monks House is open and visitors flock to the village. Car parking along the There are a few sites within the conservation area village street can be both visually dominant and which require improvement of which the following also dangerous for pedestrians and other road are the most urgent: users.

• The area round The Forge; 6 Conservation Area boundary review • The Abergavenny Arms, including signage and kitchen extraction. As part of the appraisal process, the conservation area boundary was reviewed. It was considered 4 Boundaries that a few amendments could be made, as detailed in Chapter 8 Recommendations. The flint walls in the conservation area make a major contribution to the special character of the area and must be protected from demolition or neglect. Non-traditional boundaries, such as the metal gates and fencing to Monreepos, should be discouraged. The new brick wall to the back of Bankside (currently outside the conservation area) is rather heavily detailed with a dominant brick coping.

The use of local materials, such as flint, should be encouraged

LEWES - RODMELL CONSERVATION AREA 19 8 RECOMMENDATIONS Based on the various Issues identified in the 8.4 BOUNDARIES preceding chapter, the following recommendations are made: • More off-street parking would be helpful but this should not be achieved at the expense 8.1 THE QUALITY OF NEW of the loss of front boundaries or gardens; DEVELOPMENT • The District Council should therefore resist applications to demolish even small sections • The District Council should ensure that all of existing flint walls and should ensure that new development in the conservation area where they would have an adverse effect adheres to Local Plan policies and to the on the character of the conservation area, spirit of advice contained in PPG15 about no further off-street car parking areas are conservation area management. Generally, approved. there should be a presumption in favour of retaining existing gardens and green open 8.5 TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT spaces, particularly those which contribute positively to the character of the • The District Council and East Sussex conservation area and are noted as such on County Council could consider measures the Townscape Appraisal Map; to improve the safety of the junction of the • The District Council should ensure that all village street with the C7; new buildings and extensions include • Traffic in the village is particularly heavy in traditional materials, particularly flint, brick the morning and early afternoon due to the and handmade clay tiles, and traditional school run – this needs to be monitored. details; • Applications for new garages should only 8.6 CONSERVATION AREA BOUNDARY be allowed where the new building does REVIEW not impinge on the existing street scene or adversely affect the setting of existing • As part of the appraisal process, the historic buildings. conservation area boundary was reviewed and the following changes, which will ensure 8.2 PROTECTING THE RURAL CHARACTER that the boundary follows existing legal OF THE CONSERVATION AREA property boundaries, are recommended: Add the whole of the garden to • The District Council should resist o Bankside; applications for development outside the Add a small piece of land off Mill Lane; Planning Boundary, to ensure that the rural o Add the whole garden of Parkfield and setting of the conservation area is preserved o Barns Croft. and the overall character of the South Downs AONB is not adversely affected.

8.3 SITE SPECIFIC ISSUES

• The District Council could encourage the owners of the The Forge and the adjoining area, and the Abergavenny Arms, to improve their property, including (in the case of the public house) implementing some of the enhancements which have already received planning permission and listed building consent. Of particular concern is the need for general repairs and the removal of excess signage and prominent rubbish bins. However, it is understood that improvements are imminent (April 2007).

20 LEWES - RODMELL CONSERVATION AREA APPENDIX 1 THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE OUSE VALLEY

The development of the parishes of Kingston, in the 12th century. Parish formation in the Ouse Iford, Rodmell, Southease, Piddinghoe and Valley was somewhat haphazard, and the medieval Newhaven is intimately linked to the topography chapels recorded at Northease could easily have of the region, to the River Ouse and, especially developed into independent ecclesiastical parishes in the case of the more northern parishes, to the under different tenurial circumstances. Although economic and social magnetism of Lewes, the the pattern of early settlement is unclear, it seems county town. that by the end of the medieval period most of the Ouse Valley villages were nucleated on sites The early economic history of the area is exempli- lying on the 50-foot contour; that at Kingston fied by Southease, which was given to Hyde Abbey seems to be planned, whereas the other settle- in Winchester by King Edgar in 996. The grant ments cluster around their churches in a more included Telscombe, which descended with South- irregular manner. ease until 1546. This larger estate best illustrates many of the features which can be discerned from The fully-fledged system of sheep-corn husbandry the later sources for the parishes in the valley. was described in detail by John Rowe, a lawyer- These linear estates, on an east-west align- antiquary who acted as steward of one of the ment, enjoyed the widest possible range of the lords of the barony, in 1634. The system was resources offered by the available topography: fish still carried on through the means of common and water-transport from the river (and, in the fields, called ‘laines’, divided into furlongs, which case of Southease-Telscombe, the sea); grazing and were themselves further sub-divided into strips. hay-meadows on the low-lying riverside pastures Although the strips were individually owned, each or, in the local vernacular, brookland; rich arable proprietor (or his farmer) accepted a common at the foot of the Downs; and sheep-pasture and timetable of ploughing, sowing and harvesting, and road transport on the high and well-drained chalk a common rotation of crops. After the harvest, the hills or Downs. What these territories lacked was arable was thrown open to the common sheep woodland and clay, so these resources, which were flock, which at other times grazed on the ‘tenantry essential for the exploitation of the rest, were down’, usually under the care of a shepherd obtained from the Weald to the north. employed in common by the tenants. It was folded by rotation on the tenantry arable, enriching the The Domesday record of 1086 provides a snap- fields with manure, the flock acting as the ‘moving shot of these estates in a time of transition. Before dunghill’ described by Arthur Young. Towards the the Conquest, much of the valley had been held as river, the brookland was also held in common, part of the enormous royal manors of Iford and each parcel being re-assigned every year by lot. Rodmell. With the creation of Rapes, large territo- rial divisions which also served as feudal baronies, Although in the early medieval period the lands the overlordship of the entire valley passed to owned outright by manorial lords - the demesne the Warenne lords of the Barony of Lewes. It also lands - would have been interspersed with those removed most of the long-distance economic links held by their tenants, by 1500 such demesnes of the southern parishes, and instead strengthened had been concentrated in blocks. Descending the their connections with Lewes, the chief town valley, Kingston was held in Tenantry, Swanborough of the barony, where many of the manors had (a former Lewes Priory holding) in demesne, houses. The Normans also began the process of the northern half of Iford in Tenantry and the sub-division of the larger Saxon estates, which southern portion (with Northease) in demesne. were fragmented in the course of the 12th and Rodmell was largely held in Tenantry, and by 13th centuries, partly as a result of pious grants to 1808 most of Piddinghoe had been amalgamated Lewes Priory by the Warennes and their tenants. into two large farms. The tendency of lords to purchase the interests of their manorial tenants, Domesday records churches at Iford, Rodmell and of the larger tenants to acquire the property and Southease; Kingston had a church, possibly of their smaller neighbours, meant that by the end built by Lewes Priory, by 1095, and the fabric of of the 18th century many of the open-field strips the church at Piddinghoe suggests a date early had been amalgamated into larger enclosures; but

LEWES - RODMELL CONSERVATION AREA 21 a sizeable acreage remained. In 1810 690 acres carriage along the estuary also improved. In 1556 were enclosed at Telscombe, 2527 acres at King- Sir John Gage at Firle owned a barge of three tons ston and Iford in 1830 and 758 acres at Southease and there was a barge-house at the Lord’s Place in 1836. in Southover. The new cut was perfectly timed to allow Lewes merchants to take advantage of The same process of engrossment tended to the development of the iron industry, much of threaten the survival of the larger farmhouses, and whose product was floated downriver from the to encourage both the conurbation of landless Weald to Newhaven and shipped to London and cottages and depopulation. By 1615 only one abroad. By the 17th century the harbour mouth man remained at Iford who was deemed able at Newhaven was again impeded and, after half to execute the office of constable, ‘all the other a century of inaction and ineffective solutions, a inhabitants of any reasonable ability having removed new harbour entrance was developed between to Kingston, where then dwelt at the least a dozen 1733 and 1735. In 1766 John Smeaton produced fit for that service’. In 1634 there were already plans for improvements to the Ouse, and by 1793 15 cottages in Rodmell and five in Iford. In 1676 river barges could reach 23 miles up from the the approximate population of the parishes of sea, and 29 miles by 1812. Nine barges and four Kingston, Iford, Rodmell, Southease, Telscombe and boats working chiefly on the Ouse were based at Piddinghoe was 661, which had risen to 911 by Newhaven and three boats at Piddinghoe in 1804. 1801. After a mid-century peak of 1233 in 1841, Although described in 1823 as ‘little better than by 1901 the total population had declined to 955, a ditch’, Newhaven Harbour was again improved just below its level in 1811. By 1961 this figure in 1825, when the first steam-packet service was had risen to 4742, but that figure is inflated by the introduced. Until the creation of the modern A27 inhabitants of Peacehaven within the boundaries of east of Lewes in 1817 and the turnpiking of the Telscombe; the figure without Telscombe is 1241, Newhaven to Brighton route in 1824, the only way of which over 400 lived in the newly-expanded north from Newhaven lay along the west side of Kingston. the Ouse Valley through Southease, Rodmell and Iford. The economic importance of the River Ouse is clear from Domesday Book: the manor of SOURCES Southease owed a rent of 38,500 herrings and £4 in respect of porpoises, Iford 16,000 herrings and The origin of Newhaven and the drainage of the Rodmell 3000 herrings. In the Roman period the Lewes and Laughton Levels P F Brandon, Sussex river entered the sea at its present mouth, but Archaeological Collections 109 (1971) 94-106; by the early Middle Ages the growth of a shingle bar had driven it westwards to Seaford Head and A short economic and social history of Brighton, Lewes created Seaford as the out port for Lewes. That and the downland region between the Adur and the harbour too was gradually affected by silting, and Ouse 1500-1900 C E Brent, (1979); by the 1530s the meadows along the estuary, and indeed as far upstream as Sheffield Bridge, The evolution of Newhaven Harbour and the Lower lay under water almost all the year. Even the two Ouse before 1800 J H Farrant, Sussex Archaeological large islands of gault clay rising above the flood Collections 110 (1972) 44-60; level close to Iford, were almost valueless because of their inaccessibility, and merely supported the The harbours of Sussex J H Farrant, (1976); rabbit-warrens of Lewes Priory. In the 1530s Prior Crowham of Lewes sailed to Flanders at his own Victoria County History of Sussex vol 9 (1940); expense and returned with two drainage experts. In 1537, when it was reported that levels ‘lay in a The book of John Rowe W H Godfrey (ed), Sussex marsh all the summer long’, a water-rate was levied Record Society 34 (1928). on lands in the level, which funded the cutting of a channel through the accumulated shingle below Castle Hill at Meeching. One of the earliest canalisations in England, it created Newhaven, which became the out port for Lewes and dealt a further blow to the miserable port of Seaford. At a stroke the flooding dispersed and water

22 LEWES - RODMELL CONSERVATION AREA APPENDIX 2 LOCAL PLAN POLICIES

The relevant document is the Lewes District Local Plan adopted in March 2003.

Policies relating to conservation areas and listed buildings are included in Chapter 8 The Historic Environment.

The relevant policies are:

• Stewardship of the Historic Environment – Policy H1 • Listed buildings – Policy H2 • Buildings of Local, Visual or Historic Interest – Policy H3 • Conservation Area Designation, Review and Enhancement – Policy H4 • Development within or affecting Conserva- tion Areas – Policy H5 • Commercial Activities and Conservation – Policy H6 • Traffic in Conservation Areas – Policy H7 • Archaeological Sites – Policies H9, H10 and H11 • Areas of Established Character – Policy H12 • Parks and Gardens of Special Interest – Policy H13 • Parks and Gardens of Local Interest – Policy H14

LEWES - RODMELL CONSERVATION AREA 23 APPENDIX 3

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Sussex River Edna and Mac McCarthy

Rodmell – A downland village S B Publications

Guide to Rodmell Jim Bartholomew

Victoria County History of Sussex , vols. 2 and 7

24 LEWES - RODMELL CONSERVATION AREA LEWES - RODMELL CONSERVATION AREA 25